INDY STATION ADDS AN HOUR OF DAILY NEWS; PROMISES STAFF EXPANSION
Will it deliver?
Category: Adventures in Programming
PAY-TO-PLAY COMES TO JACKSON, MS NEXT WEEK
Blame Gray’s WLBT
OH YEAH!!! ANOTHER “PAY-TO-PLAY” COMING AT YOU
This time it’s Gray in August, GA
NEWSNATION HAS A PERMANENT MODERATOR FOR “THE HILL”
The daily gabfest is at 5 pm Eastern
A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?
CBS O&O ditches news for a game show
DEBUT DATE FOR REVAMPED “MEET THE PRESS” ANNOUNCED
And no revamp is complete without a graphics and set overhaul, right?
CNN’S MAXING OUT
But who will buy?
COX BREAKS INTO THE HYPERLOCAL NEWS BUSINESS
Now operating in Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC
NEWSNATION SCORED WITH ITS UFO SATURATION COVERAGE
Ratings -even mediocre successes - are nice….but not at the expense of credibility, please
ABC O&O’S PLAN NEW NEWSCASTS
After all, there is an election year fast approaching
CNN FINALLY UNDERTAKES A MASSIVE PROGRAM OVERHAUL
Both primetime and mornings will have a radically new look.
NEWSNATION PLANS A TOWN HALL WITH… VIVEK RAMASWAMY
In some polls he’s actually neck and neck with a badly-sagging Ron DeSantis
WARNER DISCOVERY’S LATEST BRAINSTORM FOR CNN
Somehow, put it on Max (the site formerly known as HBO Max)
SCRIPPS REPURPOSING PROGRAMMING FROM ITS NEWS CHANNEL
Hopefully, they are NOT going the Sinclair route of dumping local newscasts
THE OTHER SHOE DROPS AT NEWSNATION
Program canceled, anchor dropped, new program expansion and reporter promoted
FOR ENDURING AN HOUR-LONG TOWN HALL DISASTER, COLLINS GETS HER REWARD
Officially named the 9 pm host on CNN
“YOU GET A PANEL SHOW!! YOU GET A PANEL SHOW!! YOU GET A PANEL SHOW!!
Everybody gets a panel show!!!
TIME SHIFT FOR WALLACE
“Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace?” moving to Fridays
CNN MAKES IT OFFICIAL: BARKLEY AND KING TO TEAM UP
The weekly program debuts in the fall
NEWSNATION GOING 24-HOUR M-F BEGINNING MONDAY
But what about “Blue Bloods?”
QUITE A FEW NEW FACES IN LEXINGTON
Newscast additions at WKYT mean some additional personnel
NEWSMAX DROPPED BY DIRECTV
Another little-watched channel hoping to be subsidized by your monthly bill may be dropped
REALLY?
Could CNN's prime time woes be solved with a....comedy program?
THRILLS ABOUND!!
She’s moving off the weather team and joining pay-to-play tv
TELEMUNDO’S ‘NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO TEXAS’ MORNING SHOW GETS PICKED UP BY GRAY
Gray more than doubles stations carrying the new newscast
CBS SIGNS UP WITH SINCLAIR’S NEWSON STREAMER
Thirteen CBS O&Os will soon turn up on Sinclair’s NewsON streaming service. Among the stations jumping on the NewsON platform are outlets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Thrills and ...
AFTERNOON IS THE NEWLY-FERTILE GROUND FOR NETWORK NEWS
When NBC announced that its long-running soap opera “Days of Our Lives” was to be bumped in favor of a newly-created “NBC News Daily,” an hour produced by its NBC News Now streaming hub, ...
SEATTLE REPORTER GOES NATIONAL
He’ll produce content for not one but 70+ stations.
FORMER TV NEWSERS WIN THE AMAZING RACE
This couple has such amazing luck.
GRAY ANNOUNCES EXPANSION
Investigate TV is Gray Television’s branded investigative reporting unit that it acquired when it absorbed Raycom awhile back. And Gray is showing its commitment to the project. Gray is beefing up staffing for Investigate ...
KSDK BRINGS BACK THE NOONER
Coming October 4th, it is a revival in St. Louis as Tegna’s KSDK re-launches it’s noon newscast, last seen in 2017. As before, Ryan Dean (right) will co-anchor the restored program and will be ...
CourtTV’s ELECTRIC NEW TRUE CRIME SERIES
Court TV, the only multi-platform network devoted to live, gavel-to-gavel coverage, in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis of the nation’s most important and compelling trials, announced today a new original true-crime series hosted by ...
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
With all the COVID-19-related problems at the CBS Broadcast Center in midtown Manhattan that we’ve been chronicling here, it is perfectly reasonable that other CBS stations would be preparing for the possibility that they ...
WORKING AT HOME?
Now that many of you are working out of the home, what do you miss most about being in the office? What DON’T you miss? Little random things pop up working out of the ...
FOX RUNS ENTIRE NEWSER
Six television networks began showing President Donald Trump’s briefing on the coronavirus outbreak late Monday, but only Fox News Channel stuck it out to the end nearly two hours later. According to The Associated Press, ...
EXPANDING NEWS
A number of stations are also expanding their news coverage during the COVID-19 public health emergency. NBC-owned WMAQ has expanded its 6 p.m. weeknight newscast to a full hour. The additional half-hour bumps the ...
BECK LAUNCHES LIVE CHANNEL
Blaze Media has announced the US launch of Blaze Live, its ad-supported, 24/7 digital linear streaming channel, distributed via Pluto TV. The news and entertainment channel will feature an array of first-run content from ...
NBC EXPANDS LOCAL NEWS DUE TO PANDEMIC
This week, NBC-owned stations in eight of the nation’s biggest markets replaced what would have normally been the first 25 minutes of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” with more local news. At the same ...
CBS/NBC/ESPN SNAG THE PGA
The PGA Tour has inked a nine-year media rights package with incumbent broadcasters CBS Sports and NBC Sports, while carving out a new over-the-top package which places streaming exclusivity in the hands of ESPN+, ...
MORE CORONAVIRUS WORRIES
If NBCUniversal is anxious about how coronavirus may affect its plans for the Olympic Games, it is trying not to show it, The NY Times reports. “The Olympics are obviously on everybody’s mind,” Brian Roberts, ...
FOX MOVES
Fox Corporation Monday announced it has completed the previously announced purchase of Seattle stations KCPQ-TV FOX 13 and KZJO-TV MyNetworkTV 22 as well as Milwaukee station WITI FOX 6 from Nexstar Media Group . ...
SOMEONE BLINKED…
Sinclair went eyeball-to-eyeball with YouTube over the issue of compensation for the 21 regional sports networks it bought from Disney last year. YouTube promptly informed its subscribers that the RSNs would be dropped beginning ...
NFL: CHANGES AHEAD
NFL owners and the NFL Players Association are likely nearing a collective bargaining agreement after owners approved the terms Thursday. Media companies and the NFL have been waiting for the CBA’s approval before negotiating new ...
A FOUL START
Chicago TV Critic Robert Feder says folks in the windy City weren’t to thrilled with the launch of the Marquee Sports Network. He writes: “The Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group had more than ...
BLACK NEWS CHANNEL LAUNCH
The nation’s only African American news network, based in Tallahassee, launched nationwide Monday. Founded by chairman J.C. Watts Jr. and CEO Bob Brillante, the Black News Channel (BNC) represents the African American community in mainstream media. The network ...
NBC TO TAKE ON CNN INTERNATIONAL
Comcast’s NBC and Sky will soon attempt to overturn three decades of CNN dominance in international television news, jointly launching a new channel hoping to get a slice of the global news audience. NBC ...
“WHAT’S NEW” CLEVELAND?
Today is debut day for “What’s New” on Tegna’s WKYC in Cleveland, the latest station experiment in calling news anything but. So what’s new? We’re told that Jay Crawford and Betsy Kling will take ...
NEWS NATION
Nexstar Media Group, which bought Tribune Media in September, is launching a nightly three-hour national newscast on cable channel WGN America based in Chicago. Competing with established cable news networks such as CNN and ...
MSNBC CHANGES?
MSNBC talent and staffers are bracing for a major 2020 shakeup amid discussion of moving ratings-challenged Chuck Todd to a morning slot and execs talking with Fox News escapee Shepard Smith. The goal of any ...
SOUL STREAMER
Fox Television Stations (FTS) Tuesday debuted Fox Soul, a live, interactive and advertisement-supported OTT streaming channel, positioned for the African American viewer. The channel’s programs aim to “celebrate black culture and highlight the real ...
NEXSTAR SIGNS WITH NIELSEN
Nexstar Media Group said it signed a multi-year deal with Nielsen. Nielsen will provide measurement services for Nexstar’s 197 television stations and digital subchannels in 115 markets, and national ratings for WGN America. “Nexstar’s ...
NEXSTAR DOES IT AGAIN
If you were watching local TV coverage of the New Year events, you probably saw Nexstar‘s offering. Six States saw “Texas Live”, it trended on Twitter and LIVE coverage online in many markets. Lot’s ...
LET’S TRY IT ON FACEBOOK
Jada Pinkett Smith won’t be the only Hollywood notable with a talk show on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform. After the May cancellation of his Emmy-winning NBC daytime show, Steve Harvey will bring a ...
FOX PROMOTES BILL HEMMER
Bill Hemmer has for years been the faithful morning co-anchor at Fox News Channel, boosting the profiles of time-slot partners like Megyn Kelly, Martha MacCallum and Shannon Bream. Now he’s set to step into his own ...
NPR WITH SOME HOLIDAY HELP
After a year of covering all sorts of local news, December can be kinda lame in newsrooms as staff begins to look forward to time off and the story ideas in the morning meeting ...
ATLANTA NEW PRIMETIME SHOW
Tegna-owned WATL Atlanta started a primetime newscast Monday from co-owned NBC affiliate WXIA. 11Alive News: Primetime airs from 8 to 10 p.m. The expansion will lead into WXIA’s current 10-11 p.m. broadcast on WATL. ...
KXAS LOOKING AT NEW SHOW?
If it happens in DFW, Unclebarkey.com is all over it and Ed Bark is reporting KXAS (NBC) *may* be looking at a new locally produced show. Bark has learned that NBC5 is taking a ...
JACKPOT
Disney backed up its claims that Disney+’s first-day glitches were the result of high consumer demand, revealing Tuesday that the streaming service had hit 10 million signups since its Nov. 12 launch. CEO Bob ...
CBS-VIACOM DIGITAL
CBS and Viacom Monday announced senior appointments for ViacomCBS’ content and digital leadership. The appointments, will enable ViacomCBS to deliver on its distinct competitive position as one of the most important content producers and ...
WEINSTEIN’S RAPE TRIAL ON COURT TV
Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial will be a centerpiece of the newly relaunched Court TV brand. The network relaunched in May by Katz Broadcasting under a license from Time Warner, which ran a different network under ...
SHOWING OFF THE NEW SET
As we cover the big stories, day in day out, sometimes it’s the little things back at the station, like a new set that may make you stick your chest out a bit. WBRE/WYOU ...
LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING….
….was an old slogan associated with the Phone Book back about the time of the Dinosaurs. But now, your fingers can help you shop, using your phone while watching your favorite show. NBCUniversal has been ...
NEWS FROM YOUR BLOCK
And only your block…. WLFT is a low-power television station in Baton Rouge, LA that operates three fulltime secondary channels which carry local programming as well as content from MeTV and Antenna. On November ...
NEXSTAR EXPANDS NEWS IN PORTLAND
Nexstar Media Group said it is expanding the local news programming at KRCW-TV, the CW affiliate in Portland, Oregon, a station acquired when Nexstar bought Tribune Broadcasting earlier this year. The station’s 10 p.m. newscast ...
SHEP HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
Shepard Smith has left the Fox News building, but his hour will remain staffed by employees from the network’s news division. Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Shannon Bream, Martha MacCallum, Bill Hemmer and ...
BEHIND THE SCENES AT BNC
Recently, we’ve mentioned the Black News Channel, a new 24/7 news channel geared toward African American audiences. J.C. Watts Jr., the former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, is the chairman and co-founder of the venture. ...
STREAMING HOT FOOD
If you happen to be a Food Network fan, you’ll love Wednesdays announcement from Discovery: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of Food Network Kitchen, a first-of-its-kind direct-to-consumer product with exclusive streaming technology ...
CUBS GOING INTO DARK HOLE
If you live in Chicago and love the Cub’s listen up. NBC Sports Chicago is warning viewers that when the Cubs seasons ends, subscribers of AT&T’s DirecTV and Dish Network could lose the channel. The Cubs Major League ...
SO THE PRESIDENT COMES TO TOWN…
We all know, it’s always something isn’t it? President Trump was in Albuquerque New Mexico Monday evening and the stations had a lot of coverage. However, something happened at KOB (NBC) early on. While ...
RELENTLESS
Relentless with Kate Snow premieres on Oxygen Friday, October 4. Kate Snow hosts, and each episode examines stories where everyday citizens tirelessly pursue justice for their loved ones. “Through emotional testimonials and exclusive interviews, the ...
ON THE ROAD
WHO, Tribune’s NBC affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, is packing up and hittin’ the road all this week for RVTV 2019, the station’s annual week-long Iowa/Iowa State tailgate party. TV NewsCheck reports this is ...
FULL COURT PRESS
Gray TV, announced Wednesday it will launch a new weekly program this Sunday at 6:30 a.m. called “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren.” Gray’s Chief National Political Analyst, Greta Van Susteren, will host ...
NEXSTAR VS. FCC
FCC chairman Ajit Pai on Friday sought approval from his colleagues to order the go ahead for Nexstar Media Group Inc’s acquisition of Tribune Media Co in a $6.4 billion tie-up, reports Reuters citing a ...
ANOTHER DEM DEBATE
ABC News has announced the moderators for the third Democratic debate, as well as the qualification rules. Variety reports the debate will be held on Thursday, Sept. 12, and will spill over to Friday, ...
TEGNA RUMORS
Apollo Global Management LLC has approached Tegna Inc. about a deal as the private-equity firm looks to bulk up its ownership of television stations, according to The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the ...
GO AHEAD, WRITE A CHECK
Ready or not, the 2020 political season is right around the corner with TV Networks and affiliates already the declared financial winners. BIA Advisory Service estimates $6.55 billion will be spent on local political ...
NEXSTAR TO HOST TX GOVERNOR
Nexstar announced Wednesday that it will host a live Town Hall meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. CT. The Herculean task was announced via news release. ...
CBS GOES DARK
CBS, “the nation’s most-watched television network”, went dark for more than 6.5 million AT&T customers early Saturday after the two media giants couldn’t agree on a new contract. The NY Times reports the network was ...
MEREDITH VS. DISH
Despite a one-day extension made in hopes they could hammer out a deal, about 17 TV stations in a dozen markets owned by Meredith Corp. went dark to Dish subscribers Tuesday, adding to a growing list of station ...
FIRST NEXSTAR, NOW CBS
And now a Friday 11 PM deadline looms between the CBS Stations Group and the folks at AT&T’s DirecTV, U-Verse and DirecTV Now. A press release from CBS asserted that the company is negotiating ...
HLN SHUFFLES THE ANCHOR DECK
As HLN, the CNN stepchild, continues to scratch its head over its godawful “true crime”-heavy primetime schedule, it’s making some significant changes to its daytime lineup, where news (of a sort) is still actually ...
“48 HOURS” TAKES ON HUISENTRUIT MYSTERY
We were working in Sioux Falls, South Dakota when a young anchor-reporter over in Mason City, IA disappeared back in 1995. Then, as now, it was a small world in tv news and many ...
CHICAGO AM IN THE PM
Larry Potash, Robin Baumgarten from Chicago’s “WGN Morning News” will be joined by the rest of the AM gang when they host a primetime special from 7 to 9 p.m. this Wednesday on the ...
THE $69 MILLION QUESTION
Friday’s late-day news dump included the completely-expected news that “Megyn Kelly Today” would not be returning to NBC’s programming schedule. Instead, Kelly will continue to collect her $23 million annual salary while sitting at ...
MORE CUOMO ALL THE TIME
Evidently as we head into the final, overheated weeks of the midterm election season, CNN has made the decision that the more Jake Tapper you get, the better off you’ll be. So, in addition ...
THE MSNBC SHUFFLE
MSNBC is pulling another shuffle of its weekend schedule, moving Al Sharpton’s Sunday morning show to a 5 PM slot and giving him an additional Saturday hour at the same time. Sharpton is vacating ...
ANOTHER GROUP OFFERING STEPPED-UP ELECTION COVERAGE
Dispatch Broadcast Group stations say they plan to expand political coverage leading up to the midterm elections by carrying debates, weekly political shows plus online offerings. WBNS in Columbus is covering all three gubernatorial ...
MAYBE “THE JAM” IS JUST NOT THE VIEWERS’ JAM
Weigel Broadcasting’s WCIU has got a problem with its morning show “The Jam.” This morning new co-host Carly Henderson debuts on the 6-8 am news, talk and entertainment block. She and her co-hosts Felicia ...
NEW FACES AT CNN EN ESPAÑOL
After six years as co-host of various programs on CNN en Español, most recently the morning newscast, María Alejandra Requena (left) has been promoted to anchor of the daily 4 pm “Panorama Mundial.” She’s ...
SCIUTTO SET TO JOIN “CNN NEWSROOM”
Poppy Harlow’s solo anchoring days on CNN’s “CNN Newsroom” are drawing to a close. Starting next Monday, she will be joined by CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. Harlow’s been on her own ...
HBO CLEANS UP ITS RED LIGHT DISTRICT
Remember back in the day sneaking peeks at some of the “after hour” offerings on HBO only to be busted by Dad who wondered why the TV was still on after Midnight? Well no ...
…BUT IT ALL LOOKED THE SAME
If you happened to see the local coverage Sunday of the shooting in Jacksonville Florida and thought half of it all looked the same, that’s cause it did. WJAX-TV (CBS) and WFOX-TV (FOX) had ...
CARLY HENDERSON FINDS HER “JAM”
Carly Henderson, a Los Angeles entertainment journalist, TV host and video producer, is the new co-host of “The Jam,” the morning news, talk and entertainment show on Weigel’s WCIU in Chicago, IL. Henderson has ...
WFLD LINES UP ANOTHER FOOTBALL SHOW
“Bears Unleashed,” a half-hour weekly talk show we are to believe will cover “all the relevant hot topics” surrounding the Chicago Bears and the NFL, launches September 7th on Fox-owned WFLD and will air ...
CNN AXES LA-BASED NEWSCAST
The California-based “CNN Newsroom Live from Los Angeles” which frequently aired on CNN/USA in addition to CNN International is history and its anchor, John Vause, is being pulled back to Atlanta. The program often ...
CUPP RUNNETH OVER TO ANOTHER STUDIO
Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp is moving from CNN’s after-thought subsidiary HLN to the big room. Just a year after it launched on HLN as a Monday-Thursday early prime-time offering, it will move into a ...
CABLE NEWS AS UNCRITICAL CHEERLEADER
Yesterday we told you about a Fox News contributor’s pretty terrific idea of how to stop the circus atmosphere at Mr. Trump’s grievance rallies by taking the press out of the line of fire ...
COX ATLANTA ADDS TWO HOURS OF AM SHOW TO STREAMING PLATFORM
You Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV users can now take in two hours of the “Channel 2 Action News” morning program. Why you would do that is your call. All you need is ...